If you’re like me, your entire world was rocked a mere 24 hours ago as the Covid-19 outbreak shut down schools for the foreseeable future. It is my hope and prayer that I’ll look back at this blog post next year this time and be able to say “we panicked over nothing.” However, at this point, I’m incredibly nervous and overwhelmed. My school had 0 time to prepare for such a lengthy “break” and we are far from being 1-to-1. I work in a Title 1 school so I’m increasingly concerned about my sweet flock over this break. Please pray that my district will figure out a way to feed these children who rely on school breakfasts and lunches as their only option.
All of this being said, I really wanted to take some time to create a resource that would help me to still feel like a teacher and my students still feel as if they’re experiencing some remnant of “normal.” I have such a diverse flock with many different interests, but I wanted them to still keep learning without feeling like they were on “lock-down” with loads of school work. Many of them will have to act as pseudo-moms/dads as their parents still have to go to work but there are younger siblings to babysit.
I’ve created this simple Documentary worksheet WITH A GOOGLE VERSION for electronic use. I plan on sharing this via Google Classroom so that my students who DO have access to WiFi during this time can get in some good analytical practice.
I’ve made this resource totally free until the end of March. I want as many educators as possible to have access to this resource. I know it’s only a tiny drop in the bucket, but if it can help save just a little of your sanity, then please use it with your own flock. 🙂
Along with the documentary analysis worksheet, I’ve made a list of some of my favorite documentaries on Netflix or Hulu. You may want to choose a particular documentary for your students to watch, but I think I’m going to leave it up to them and see what cool things they may even teach me!
Check out my list below and feel free to send me any of your documentary recs here!
Documentaries that could work for a Science Classroom:
1. Take Your Pills on Netflix.
In a hypercompetitive world, drugs like Adderall offer students, athletes, coders and others a way to do more — faster and better. But at what cost?
2. Naledi: A Baby’s Elephant’s Tale on Netflix
Telling the true story of a baby elephant born into a rescue camp in the Botswana wilderness, who became orphaned after a month. The keepers of the camp work hard to become surrogate mothers for the little one.
Documentaries that could work for a Social Studies Classroom:
1. The Cave on Hulu
The Cave paints a stirring portrait of courage, resilience and female solidarity inside a subterranean hospital in Syria run by a young, female pediatrician.
2. Three Identical Strangers on Hulu
Identical triplets become separated at birth and adopted by three different families. Years later, their amazing reunion becomes a global sensation, but it also unearths an unimaginable secret that has radical repercussions.
Just for Fun:
1. Undefeated on Netflix
Since its founding in 1899, Manassas High School in North Memphis has never had a football team win a playoff game. In 2004, former high-school coach Bill Courtney offers to help turn the Manassas Tigers around. Nurturing his players’ physical and emotional strengths, Courtney’s efforts pay off in 2009, when the Tigers, led by their star player O.C., seem to have a chance to break their school’s 110-year losing streak and finally win a playoff game.
2. Long Shot on Netflix
An innocent man is accused of murder, leading his attorney on a wild chase to confirm his alibi using raw footage from a television show.
If you use my documentary resource, I’d love to know which documentaries you chose for your students or which ones they chose for themselves!
